Three quarter-final picks from Kitzbuhel today, with rain at 100% and temperatures barely hitting 63°F, so conditions are going to be heavy and slow out there. That could make for some long, grinding matches, and on this surface with this weather, anything can happen. Let's get into it.
Generali Open Kitzbuhel Predictions
Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs Ignacio Buse
Head-to-head: First meeting
On paper this looks like an Etcheverry match. He's a top-30 player on clay, he's won on this surface before, and Buse is still relatively early in his career at tour level. But Buse has been playing seriously good tennis lately, and at 35 in the world he's not a wildcard anymore. The slow, wet conditions in Kitzbuhel actually suit a patient baseliner like Buse, and Etcheverry has had moments this season where he's gone missing in matches he should control.
Buse in three is the call here, and honestly it wouldn't surprise me at all.
Prediction: Buse in 3
Alexander Bublik vs Alex Molcan
Head-to-head: Bublik 0-1 Molcan
Molcan has beaten Bublik before, and Bublik on clay in cold, damp, slow conditions is not a pretty sight. His flat ball-striking loses a lot of its punch when the court plays heavy and the serve-based points he lives on get neutralized quickly. That said, Molcan is ranked 81st for a reason, and Bublik at his best is too unpredictable to count out even on a bad surface day.
I think Bublik finds a way through, but it won't be clean.
Prediction: Bublik in 3
Yannick Hanfmann vs Sebastian Baez
Head-to-head: Hanfmann 1-1 Baez
All square in the head-to-head, and two players ranked within four spots of each other. Baez is the better clay-court mover and he's become so good at not panicking in long rallies, but Hanfmann has real weapons and the wet, slow conditions in Kitzbuhel, which have made this tournament a grind all week, could make this a slog that suits the German's bigger groundstrokes. To make things worse for Baez, Hanfmann's forehand in particular can be a real problem when he's dialed in, and this feels like a surface and a day where he can keep the ball deep and make Baez work for everything.
Prediction: Hanfmann in 3
For full predictions on ATP and WTA matches today, check out Uppset.
Credit Image: © Dennis Agyeman/AFP7 via ZUMA Press Wire